Page 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1

I answered the phone, and Susan Rodriguez said, "They&039;ve taken our daughter"

I sat there for a long five count, sed, and said, "Uently

"Oh," I said "Um"

"The line isn&039;t secure," she said "I&039;ll be in town tonight We can talk then"

"Yeah," I said "Okay"

"Harry" she said "I&039;m notI never wanted to - " She cut the words off with an ih I heard a voice over the loudspeaker in the background, saying so in Spanish "We&039;ll have tio About twelve hours"

"Okay," I said "I&039;llI&039;ll be here"

She hesitated, as if about to say so up

I sat there with the phone againstthat double-speed busy-signal noise

Our daughter

She said our daughter

I hung the phone up Or tried I missed the base The receiver clattered to the floor

Mouse,spot in the tiny kitchenetteover to sit down at y eyes After asound, then carefully picked the receiver up in his jaws and settled it onto the base Then he went back to staring worriedly at et ht have a child"

Mouse h-pitched noise

"Yeah How do you think I feel?" I stared at the far wall Then I stood up and reached for my coat "Ithink I need a drink," I said I nodded, focusing on nothing "Yeah So like thisyeah"

Mouse made a distressed noise and rose

"Sure," I told him "You can co"

I got honked at a lot on the way to McAnally&039;s I didn&039;t care Iinto anyone That&039;s the iht? I pulledover into the little parking lot next to Mac&039;s place I started inside

Mousesound

I looked overnosed it closed

"Thanks," I said

We went into the pub

Mac&039;s place looks like Cheers after a ularly spaced around the roo up the roof They&039;re all carved with scenes of Old World fairy tales, so,fans spinning lazily throughout the place, and the irregularly shaped, polished wooden bar has thirteen stools There are thirteen tables in the room, placed in no specific pattern

"There&039;re a lot of thirteens in here," I said to myself

It was about two thirty in the afternoon No one was in the pub except for ht ands in He could be anywhere between thirty and fifty and, as always, he earing a spotless white apron

Mouse stared intently at Mac for a moment Then he abruptly sat down in the entryway at the top of the little stairs, turned around once, and settled down by the door, his chin on his paws

Mac glanced toward us "Harry"

I shambled over to the bar

Mac produced a bottle of one of his microbrews, but I shook my head "Um I&039;d say, &039;Whiskey, Mac,&039; but I don&039;t know if you have any whiskey I need so, I think"

Mac raised his eyebrows and blinked at uy He was practically screaht gold in a little glass, and I drank it It burned I wheezed a little, and then tapped a finger next to the glass

Mac refilled it, frowning at lass ave ulate around it, and then to crystallize into definite shape

Susan had called me She was on the way

And we had a child

And she had never toldthat covered supernatural news Most of the people orked there thought they were publishing fiction, but Susan had clued in to the supernatural world on her own, and we&039;d crossed trails and verbal swords several tiether a terribly long ti and we made each other happy

Maybe I should have known better If you don&039;t stand on the sidelines and ignore the world around you, sooner or later you make enemies One of mine, a vampire named Bianca, had abducted Susan and infected her with the blood thirst of the Red Court Susan hadn&039;t gone all the way over - but if she ever lost control of herself, ever took another&039;s lifeblood, she would

She left me, afraid that if she didn&039;t, I&039;d be the kill that turned her into a monster, and set out into the world to find soood reason to do so, but reason and heart-break don&039;t speak the saiven uilt don&039;t speak the saood thing I had gone into shock, because I could feel e power like a storm far out to sea I couldn&039;t see theh to know that whatever was rising inside ot people killed every day But for ht be worse

I&039;m a professional wizard

I can s happen than ic and emotions are tied up inextricably I&039;ve been in battle before, and felt the terror and rage of that kind of place, where it&039;s a fight just to think clearly through the siic in those kinds of volatile circumstances - and a few times, I&039;d seen it run wild as a result When ets hurt Maybe soets killed When it happens to a wizard, insurance coo broke and there&039;s reconstruction afterward

What was stirring in e seeot to talk to someone," I heard myself say quietly "Soet o to hell"

Mac leaned on the bar and looked at lass in uez?"

He nodded

"She says that sohter She says she&039;ll be here late tonight"

Mac inhaled and exhaled slowly Then he picked up the bottle and poured himself a shot He sipped at it

"I loved her," I said "Maybe love her still And she didn&039;t tell "

He grunted

"I&039;ve been used before And I&039;irl"

"Yes," he said

I gave hihtly

"She&039;d besix? Seven?" I shook ht now"

Mac pursed his lips "Hard thing"

I finished the second glass Soer to the bottle, watchingto me," I said quietly "If she&039;s notthen"

Mac closed his eyes briefly and nodded

"Then there&039;s this little girl in trouble," I said I felt my jaw clench, and the stor up I pushed it down "My little girl"

He nodded again

"Don&039;t know if I ever told you," I said "I was an orphan"

Mac watched me silently

"There were times whenwhen it was bad When I wanted so ofof not being alone And when soest monster of all" I shook my head "I won&039;t let that happen to my child"

Mac folded his arms on the bar and looked at ot to be very careful, Harry"

I looked at hira like this will test you like nothing else," Mac said "You&039;re going to find out who you are, Harry You&039;re going to find out which principles you&039;ll stand by to your death - and which lines you&039;ll cross" He tookinto the badlands It&039;ll be easy to get lost"

I watched hirih it hurt his throat on the way down Maybe he&039;d strained his voice, using it so much

I stared down at my hands for afor the pooch"

He grunted in the affir He took his ti my intentions with a bartender&039;s instincts I didn&039;t feel like eating, but I had a little time to kill while the buzz faded

He put my sandwich down in front of me Then he took a boith so with a bowl of water I ate my sandwich and idly noted that Mac never carried food out to anyone Guess he was a dog person

I ate my sandwich slowly and paid Mac

"Thanks," I said

He nodded "Luck"

I got up and headed back for the car Mouse followed besidehts I had to be careful I had to be wary I had to keep , because the only thing I knew for certain was that so to ht

I was heading into the badlands

Chapter 2

Susan arrived at around one in the one back hoht to my lab in the subbasement, and made with the wizardry, which demanded an intense focus on my tasks Over the next several hours, I prepared a couple of things that ht come in handy in the immediate future Then I went back up the stepladder to s Each of thes, and I had enchanted they every time I moved my arm They were pretty efficient, but it wouldn&039;t hurt to top the the tar out of the heavy bag hanging in one corner ofarea

I showered, cleaned up,If I did that, thoughts ht start to creep in, and I wasn&039;t sure hoould deal with the to sleep It just wasn&039;t going to happen

So I stayed in motion I cleaned the kitchen I bathed Mouse and brushed out his coat I picked up ed out my cat Mister&039;s litter box I tidied up the fireplace, and set out fresh candles to illuminate the room

It tooktoover Old habits die hard, I suppose

I was debating with ht need to clean Mister up (and having a narrow-eyed glare bestowed upon hest bookshelf) when there was a polite knock at the door

My heart started being faster

I opened the door and found Susan facing ht, which meant she was about a foot shorter than ular, except for her ht hair and even darker eyes, and her skin had a sun-bronzed tone to it far deeper than I had ever seen on her before She looked thinner I could see the tendons and muscles beneath the skin of her neck, and her cheekbones seemed starker than they had before She wore black leather pants, a black T-shirt, and a leather jacket to coed a day

It had been most of a decade since I had beheld her In that tie a little Oh, nothing major A few more pounds, e But Susan hadn&039;t changed At all

I guess that&039;s a nifty perk of being a half-turned vampire of the Red Court